This application claims the benefit of the Korean Application Nos. P 2002-0027699, P 2002-25099, P 2002-25100 filed on May 20, 2002, May 7, 2002, May 7, 2002, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a dewfall preventing device of a refrigerator for preventing the dewfall phenomenon occurring on the contact portion of the front side and a door of the refrigerator by the hot heat of a compressor of the refrigerator.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a refrigerator is used to freeze or cool foods, and its schematic structure is illustrated as follows.
FIG. 1 illustrates a side sectional view of a conventional refrigerator.
Referring to FIG. 1, a refrigerator includes a case forming a receiving space divided into a freezing room 101 and a cooling room 102, a door 12, which is installed on the front side of the case 10 to open/close the freezing room 101 and the cooling room 102, and units such as a compressor 20, a condenser 30, and an evaporator 40, etc. to form a freezing cycle.
In the refrigerator, a gas refrigerant of low pressure and temperature is compressed into high pressure and temperature by the compressor 20, and the compressed gas refrigerant of high pressure and temperature is transferred into a liquid phase of high pressure by being cooling-compressed while passing the condenser 30. While the liquid phase of the refrigerant of high pressure passes through a capillary tube or an expander (not shown), its temperature and pressure are decreased. While the liquid refrigerant is transferred into a gas of low pressure and temperature in the evaporator 40, it extracts the heat from the cooling room and the freezing room to cool the air there inside.
The evaporator 40 is installed inside a vaporizing room 103 that is a separate space of the back of the freezing room 101. The air cooled by the evaporator 40 is introduced into the freezing room 101 and the cooling room 102 and circulated therethrough by the operation of the fan 50 installed in the vaporizing room 103 to drop the temperature of the freezing room 101 and the cooling room 102.
Generally, dew forms on the front end side of the case 10 which contacts the door 12 due to the temperature difference with the outside when opening the door 12 of the refrigerator because of the characteristics of the freezing room 101, which is referred to as dewfall phenomenon.
To prevent the above dewfall phenomenon, a hot line (referring a numeral 70 of FIG. 2) is normally installed in the refrigerator.
FIG. 2 illustrates a flow line of the hot line of the conventional refrigerator.
Referring to FIG. 2, the hot line (dotted line) 70 comes out from an input end of the condenser 30 installed in a machinery room, circulates the case 10, and goes into the output end of the condenser 30. That is, the hot line 70 is a secondary condensing tube installed on the interior front side of the case 10, which circulates the contact portion of the door 12 and the case 10.
Therefore, according to the conventional technology, a part of the refrigerant gas of high pressure and temperature discharged from the compressor 20 is introduced into the hot line 70. Then, the front side portion around the hot line 70 in the case 10 is heated over a room temperature thereby to prevent the dewfall phenomenon on the front side of the case 10 even with the opening of the door 12.
However, a cooling load is increased in the conventional refrigerator, that is, the refrigerant gas of high pressure and temperature discharged from the compressor 20 is used as the working fluid of the hot line 70, and the overall front side of the case 10 is heated over a high temperature unnecessarily, and the heat generated from the hot line 70 is transferred into the freezing room 101 and the cooling room 102.
In addition, a frictional heat of a high temperature is generated from the compressor 20, and the frictional heat has a bad effect on the compressor 20, itself thereby to reduce the operation performance of the compressor 20.
In addition, the heat generated from the compressor 20 is not used appropriately, and wasted to the outside resulting in causing a loss of energy and reducing the efficiency of the refrigerator.
In addition, besides the circulation cycle of the refrigerant basically incorporating only the compressor 20, the condenser 30, the evaporator 40, and the expansion valve in the conventional technology, the additional refrigerant is necessary by the amount passing through the hot line 70 so that the production expenses is increased and the productivity of the refrigerator is decreased.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a dewfall preventing device of a refrigerator that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a dewfall preventing device of a refrigerator by using a thermosyphon employing the hot heat generated from a compressor of the refrigerator as a heating source, and forming a hot line on the contact portion of a refrigerator case and a refrigerator door.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a dewfall preventing device of a refrigerator for efficiently discharging the hot heat generated from the compressor.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a dewfall preventing device of a refrigerator, wherein the thermosyphon is operated by a working fluid independently from a typical refrigerating cycle of the refrigerator, and the separate working fluid heat-exchanges with the heat of the cooling oil of the compressor.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a dewfall preventing device of a refrigerator may include a compressor for compressing a refrigerant; a heat exchanger for extracting the heat generated from the increase of the refrigerant inner energy by the friction and the compression in the compressor; a thermosyphon for maintaining the contact portion of a refrigerator case and a refrigerator door at a predetermined temperature by a way that a working fluid phase-transferred into a gas phase in the heat exchanger radiates the extracted heat, and after releasing the extracted heat, the cooled working fluid comes back into the heat exchanger by gravitation; and a wick being placed in the pipe line of the heat exchanger for concentrating the extracted heat generated from the compressor and enabling the working fluid to easily flow.
The present invention forms a hot line by using thermosyphon in which a separate working fluid is injected without using a refrigerant gas, and reduces an air pollution due to the refrigerant gas. In addition, the production process to realize the present invention is simple without an auxiliary circulating device.
Additionally, the compressor is easily cooled, and the waste heat is reused thereby to increase energy efficiency.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.